Way Up North

The gaze: fully focused and sharp. 🙂
Off to new adventures!

Ulricehamn

In this beautiful town by the lake Åsunden, we made ourselves comfortable for two nights.

We were speechless at how many leisure options this quaint little town had to offer.
A huge playground for kids, canoes for rent, a lovely jetty with a "Kallbadhus" (sauna plus a refreshing dip in the lake), an old town with well-tended greenery & music playing over speakers, and finally: a DJ station to try out.

Maybe that's even where the music in the old town gets broadcast from? 🙂

The public robotic lawnmower nearly had it out for our bus. 😉

Visjö,

From Ulricehamn, our route took us along Sweden's second-largest lake, the Vättern, into the very rural village of Visjö.

Along the way, we stopped in the middle of the forest to climb a lookout tower and take in the view over the vast lake.

In Visjö, we found ourselves — how could it be any different in Sweden — right by a lake again.

We jumped into the cool water (around 19 to 20°C) almost every day here.
And yes, we gathered some wood here to light our little fireplace two evenings.
Back in Germany it was sometimes around 35°C – for us, it was only about 20°C, and in the evenings sometimes pretty chilly.

Here, after swimming, we could not only warm up our cold feet but also our burger buns. 🙂

We hiked over rocks and roots on a day hike to the big lake Vättern, and the way back even led straight through a pasture. 🙂

Sättuna

Here, for once, we weren't parked directly by a lake, but next to one near a bird sanctuary.

A special highlight was the partial solar eclipse, which we were able to admire from the bus (even without special glasses).
We even got to safely watch the spectacle through a homemade pinhole camera made from a Swedish fellow observer's cornflakes box. 🙂

The temperatures here even allowed us to do something we hadn't done in a while: use the outdoor shower!

Always these sensationalist reporters who have to take photos while someone's showering. Revenge was taken! 🙂

And to satisfy our "lake wanderlust," we simply had to hike to the next lake (Roxen).
Also impressive here was the Göta Canal ("Sweden's blue ribbon") with its countless historic locks. In an exhibition, we got an up-close look at lock gates that are over 200 years old. It's amazing how long wood can withstand such heavy loads.

And of course, we cooled off afterward in the refreshing water. 🙂

Åby

For the curious: €1.79 for a liter of diesel. Gas is even quite a bit cheaper.

In Åby, after far too long, we were finally parked directly by a lake again — this one called Ågelsjön.
The roughly 10 km loop trail around the lake had some pretty steep sections in places. The reward was a fantastic view over the water.
An almost mystical forest with huge boulders left quite an impression on us.

Mirror-smooth lake water.
Complete silence.
Sweden can be this beautiful.

Stay tuned to find out how many more lakes and bodies of water await us on our journey through the north.

See you soon!